What about chinese full-featured smartphones? I've had around 12 smartwatches (from Pebble to Sony to Samsung) and now I bought a very inexpensive one (74.99 on GearBest) called "Finow Q1". It has Android 5.1, 1.54 inch Oled screen, an MTK6580 1.3GHz Quad Core, 1GB RAM and 8GB ROM, Pedometer, Gravity Sensor, GPS, WIFI and Heart Rate Monitor. I must say that after all the money I've spent on the previous (12!) Smartwatches, this one is really not a bad option. Once I even drop it on a pool and survived (it's not waterproof). Maybe Ars could do a review on the inexpensive kind.

I've been tracking activities using various methods since around 2000, when I picked up a bike cyclometer that had a heart rate monitor built in. I then added a GPS. Later I started using a Garmin Forerunner 201 and even later the Nokia SportsTracker app. Now I use an iPhone 7 and Apple Watch, along with Wahoo Fitness bike and HRM sensors.

One very disturbing trend to me is the sandboxing of workout data. I went from tracking my activity in a spreadsheet to having 4 different apps that don't necessarily talk to each other (Wahoo Fitness, Strava, a skiing tracker, and the Apple workout app). Apple's app is a black hole. In fact despite all the hype over continuity, there's no way to get healthkit data off my phone. But none of the other apps are any better. They all keep your data on their servers and have limited export functions. This is completely unacceptable. Not because of privacy, but because there is no "one best way" to track activity. Maybe I want to analyze my workouts using a modified candlestick chart. Sorry Strava's fine programmers don't think that way.

Is it a big problem? Not really, but I know some pretty serious runners who would be devastated if their tracker of choice were to go out of business and take their training logs with them.

I've been tracking activities using various methods since around 2000, when I picked up a bike cyclometer that had a heart rate monitor built in. I then added a GPS. Later I started using a Garmin Forerunner 201 and even later the Nokia SportsTracker app. Now I use an iPhone 7 and Apple Watch, along with Wahoo Fitness bike and HRM sensors.

One very disturbing trend to me is the sandboxing of workout data. I went from tracking my activity in a spreadsheet to having 4 different apps that don't necessarily talk to each other (Wahoo Fitness, Strava, a skiing tracker, and the Apple workout app). Apple's app is a black hole. In fact despite all the hype over continuity, there's no way to get healthkit data off my phone. But none of the other apps are any better. They all keep your data on their servers and have limited export functions. This is completely unacceptable. Not because of privacy, but because there is no "one best way" to track activity. Maybe I want to analyze my workouts using a modified candlestick chart. Sorry Strava's fine programmers don't think that way.

Is it a big problem? Not really, but I know some pretty serious runners who would be devastated if their tracker of choice were to go out of business and take their training logs with them.

I've been tracking activities using various methods since around 2000, when I picked up a bike cyclometer that had a heart rate monitor built in. I then added a GPS. Later I started using a Garmin Forerunner 201 and even later the Nokia SportsTracker app. Now I use an iPhone 7 and Apple Watch, along with Wahoo Fitness bike and HRM sensors.

One very disturbing trend to me is the sandboxing of workout data. I went from tracking my activity in a spreadsheet to having 4 different apps that don't necessarily talk to each other (Wahoo Fitness, Strava, a skiing tracker, and the Apple workout app). Apple's app is a black hole. In fact despite all the hype over continuity, there's no way to get healthkit data off my phone. But none of the other apps are any better. They all keep your data on their servers and have limited export functions. This is completely unacceptable. Not because of privacy, but because there is no "one best way" to track activity. Maybe I want to analyze my workouts using a modified candlestick chart. Sorry Strava's fine programmers don't think that way.

Is it a big problem? Not really, but I know some pretty serious runners who would be devastated if their tracker of choice were to go out of business and take their training logs with them.

True you can get a data dump .xml file. But I can just copy/paste just about any other data with the universal clipboard, push data around with Airdrop, and Safari's tabs show up on all my devices. There's no health or activity app on my iPad nor on my MacBook. I know I'm contradicting myself when I say I want an app on my mac that will let me view data, but I'm more interested in having a decent sized screen for analysis than I am in custom charting (which would be great too).

Still nothing close to the pebble. I feel like if they'd just tried harder with the round (maybe a gen2 with decent battery?) and spent more than 3¢ on advertising they would've done really well. I guess I'll just use my round til it dies and then go back to being watchless.

I don't want a phone on my wrist. I want a watch. It'd be nice for the watch to connect to my phone and maybe give me notifications, but it's gotta function as a basic watch. Always on screen, and no nightly charging. None of the big brands seem interested in delivering an actual smartWATCH; they all seem dead set on fitting a cell phone on your wrist.

I don't know why you consider the tethered smartphone to be an "electronic boat anchor". For me, it's the number one feature of my Pebble 2. I get all my notifications on my wrist, and can see at a glance whether it's something I need to respond to immediately, when I get a chance, or not at all. Canned replies handle about 3/4 of my texts, and I can read and respond without taking my eyes off the road (I know some will get up in arms about this, but it's no more distracting than checking my speedometer or changing the radio station).

Plus, I can take advantage of Android's smart lock, while still keeping my phone reasonably secure. The Pebble apps provide all kinds of additional features (Notification Centre is brilliant, and works around so many Android app stupid notifications). The heart rate monitor, sleep tracking, etc are just bonuses for me.

Overall a good article, however I do have to quibble with one of the assertions around the Fitbit Blaze. While, when it came out, it only supported basic notifications, a recent software update allows for all many more types of notifications. My wife's Blaze currently displays Google Hangouts, Instagram and other apps (Android-based phone, FWIW) in addition to call and SMS notifications.

1) Still looking for the average interval between charging to be more than EVERY SINGLE DAY.

2) Let's emphasize performance over features. Features don't matter if they work slowly.

Are you talking about smartphone peripherals like the one Apple makes, or fitness trackers?

I've a charge 2 and plug it in probably once or twice a week. I'll grant that I have to poke it a few times to get it to track specific things, but for the most part I don't ever look at it except to find out what time it is.

I may be part of a small minority, but I just want a no-frills smartwatch like Pebble used to be: just notifications and some simple information like weather and calendar, and definitely NO fitness stuff. Even Pebble was moving in the wrong direction for me, focusing more and more on health, dedicating an entire button to it.Oh well, my Pebble Time Steel is still close to my ideal smartwatch. Let's hope it keeps running for a long time...

I've been tracking activities using various methods since around 2000, when I picked up a bike cyclometer that had a heart rate monitor built in. I then added a GPS. Later I started using a Garmin Forerunner 201 and even later the Nokia SportsTracker app. Now I use an iPhone 7 and Apple Watch, along with Wahoo Fitness bike and HRM sensors.

One very disturbing trend to me is the sandboxing of workout data. I went from tracking my activity in a spreadsheet to having 4 different apps that don't necessarily talk to each other (Wahoo Fitness, Strava, a skiing tracker, and the Apple workout app). Apple's app is a black hole. In fact despite all the hype over continuity, there's no way to get healthkit data off my phone. But none of the other apps are any better. They all keep your data on their servers and have limited export functions. This is completely unacceptable. Not because of privacy, but because there is no "one best way" to track activity. Maybe I want to analyze my workouts using a modified candlestick chart. Sorry Strava's fine programmers don't think that way.

Is it a big problem? Not really, but I know some pretty serious runners who would be devastated if their tracker of choice were to go out of business and take their training logs with them.

True you can get a data dump .xml file. But I can just copy/paste just about any other data with the universal clipboard, push data around with Airdrop, and Safari's tabs show up on all my devices. There's no health or activity app on my iPad nor on my MacBook. I know I'm contradicting myself when I say I want an app on my mac that will let me view data, but I'm more interested in having a decent sized screen for analysis than I am in custom charting (which would be great too).

My point is, don't make my data hard to get.

Did you not just say you went from tracking your fitness data in a spreadsheet to having no way to export the data off your phone?

Export the data and pull it into your spreadsheet.

Sure, spreadsheets have been around forever, but CSV files and the newer XML files have always been the standard way you move data between spreadsheets and databases coded by different programmers with different ways of handling that data internally.

You can cut and paste data within the same database/spreadsheet, but there isn't a standard clipboard format that works with any vendor's product that I've ever heard of.

Also worth considering is that pebbles are still working (for now). FitBit needs tonkeep the ecosystem alive to win over the developers, and enough open source stuff exists to keep them running usefully for years.

This ought to give enough time for an Apple Watch with an always-on watchface mode, that also finally works with iPads, and have almost twice the Series2 battery life.

Overall a good article, however I do have to quibble with one of the assertions around the Fitbit Blaze. While, when it came out, it only supported basic notifications, a recent software update allows for all many more types of notifications. My wife's Blaze currently displays Google Hangouts, Instagram and other apps (Android-based phone, FWIW) in addition to call and SMS notifications.

Same. I have a Fitbit Blaze and I get my app notifications on it (iOS). It's actually quite nice, because Fitbit lets you select which apps you want to let push notifications to your Blaze, so I only get the ones I really care about.

I'm not sure I agree with the author that heart rate tracking is an advanced fitness feature either. My mom loves her Fitbit's HR tracking and got a larger wearable over a slimmer one to have HR, and she is definitely in the most casual "move more" segment. I would bucket HR, and also sleep, into that basic category. She and her friends love those features, and that is generally my experience when talking to people who have them but aren't fitness buffs.

Anyone bringing up the Pebble 2 HR....please. I have owned every Pebble made, including the Pebble 2 HR but with FITBIT shutting them down, even though they promise to keep most functions in the cloud working for a year...I still passed it along to my daughter. Plus I was counting on being able to add GPS function to it via the Pebble Core, but of course that won't happen.

So, I went and bought the Garmin Vivoactive HR since I have used Garmin for my training on bike/run/swim for years (via the 910XT as of late). The Vivoactive HR has great battery life ala Pebble, such that you don't have to plug it in everyday....and you missed complaining about more costly watches having GLONASS gps, becuz it DOES. It gives you the option to choose it in each exercise App. Plus it can sync to all my previous Garmin sensors like footpod, bike/speed cadence and the like.

Been stressing over an upgrade after having it since June, but decided against anything new. Amazfit Pace came close, esp at the $99 price point, but ultimately passed. Pebble 2 was interesting but klunky design.

The Mi Band 2 has a small profile, light, 20-30 day battery life. I don't even have to think about it. It shows me the time, step count for relative activity (it's all relative since they're wildly inaccurate), and notifications when I get calls or texts. I don't need all the other integrations.

The other thing is that there had been at least 6 firmware updates since I got it, each adding functionality. Text notifications went from a flag to adding the name of the sender. Time added a date display option. Neat.

I may be part of a small minority, but I just want a no-frills smartwatch like Pebble used to be: just notifications and some simple information like weather and calendar, and definitely NO fitness stuff. Even Pebble was moving in the wrong direction for me, focusing more and more on health, dedicating an entire button to it.Oh well, my Pebble Time Steel is still close to my ideal smartwatch. Let's hope it keeps running for a long time...

Probably not. Depending on how you look at it, I've been even more lazy and not bothered with ANY high tech watch... I still use a classic, analog wristwatch. It's definitely been useful, as I use it to tell time, stopwatch (noting start and end times), and the date... all without having to whip out the phone/PDA. I miss backlighting and an actual stop watch from digital watches, but eh... EXCELLENT battery life

1) Still looking for the average interval between charging to be more than EVERY SINGLE DAY.

2) Let's emphasize performance over features. Features don't matter if they work slowly.

Are you talking about smartphone peripherals like the one Apple makes, or fitness trackers?

I've a charge 2 and plug it in probably once or twice a week. I'll grant that I have to poke it a few times to get it to track specific things, but for the most part I don't ever look at it except to find out what time it is.

Mostly smart watch/fitness trackers such as MS band 2 and apple. Let the battery capacity catch up for a while before more bells and whistles.

Same. I had my Mi Band 2 shipped for $23.71 (albeit with annoyingly slow overseas shipping).I would not have even considered paying $100 for some of the options listed above, much less two, three, or four hundred. But at less than twenty-five bucks, you're talking about a *much* more accessible and mainstream product. I didn't even particularly want a wearable, but for that low cost of entry I was willing to give the concept a try.

I've gotten ~2 weeks of battery life the last couple of charges. After the first couple of days I've forgotten about it. It mostly just works. And at that price, I'm not concerned at all about accidentally breaking multiple hundreds of dollars on my wrist.

How is the Apple iWatch a best in group product? It can't do sleep tracking, it has less than a days battery life. The FitBit Blaze has more essential movement tracking features than the iWatch, yet it is the worst... WTH

Sure the iWatch looks nice, but it's lipstick on a pig.

EDIT: Glad to see the iCrowd chime in... they need the help to feel better for overspending for an incomplete tracker.

Overall a good article, however I do have to quibble with one of the assertions around the Fitbit Blaze. While, when it came out, it only supported basic notifications, a recent software update allows for all many more types of notifications. My wife's Blaze currently displays Google Hangouts, Instagram and other apps (Android-based phone, FWIW) in addition to call and SMS notifications.

Same. I have a Fitbit Blaze and I get my app notifications on it (iOS). It's actually quite nice, because Fitbit lets you select which apps you want to let push notifications to your Blaze, so I only get the ones I really care about.

I'm not sure I agree with the author that heart rate tracking is an advanced fitness feature either. My mom loves her Fitbit's HR tracking and got a larger wearable over a slimmer one to have HR, and she is definitely in the most casual "move more" segment. I would bucket HR, and also sleep, into that basic category. She and her friends love those features, and that is generally my experience when talking to people who have them but aren't fitness buffs.

When I first started looking at activity trackers I was of the opinion that the HR function was just an unnecessary gimmick that wasn't all that accurate anyway. But I was trying to find one for my wife, and the Charge 2 ended up having the best mix of features and form for her, and it came with HR tracking anyway, so now she has that. After seeing it in action I realized that even without being all that accurate, it can still be pretty useful by giving you a log of "active minutes." I'm not sure, but I've assumed that Fitbit figures this out by tracking your heart rate and it doesn't need to be all that accurate to tell the difference between sedentary and moving. I'd much rather shoot for a minimum of 20-30 minutes active time a day than 10,000 steps.

Overall a good article, however I do have to quibble with one of the assertions around the Fitbit Blaze. While, when it came out, it only supported basic notifications, a recent software update allows for all many more types of notifications. My wife's Blaze currently displays Google Hangouts, Instagram and other apps (Android-based phone, FWIW) in addition to call and SMS notifications.

I have a Blaze for a few reasons. I was already in the Fitbit ecosystem with previous trackers of theirs, and I wanted to keep my data and be able to compare my progress with other friends I have with Fitbit trackers. I also have tried other trackers and smartwatches but either they were great but didn't integrate with my existing Fitbit data (surprisingly, a big deal), or not that great as fitness trackers so I'd wear it for notifcations and a Fitbit for my fitness tracking, which isn't ideal.

Call, text, and app notifications were the big missing piece for me with my previous Fitbit trackers. With the Charge HR, I could only get calls. The Surge could do only calls and text, but also had music control (which I find useful). I do a lot more aside from calls and texts that I'd like notifications for. I got the Blaze after they had released the update allowing for notifications pushed from any app that provides them. It doesn't have Cortana integration like the MS Band 2 did (which unfortunately would fall apart within months), but I can deal with that. I find it to be a good middle ground or compromise, right under the Surge. It is more casual and stylish than the Surge, and allows for more types of notifications. The only thing you don't get is GPS, but if you have your phone with you, it can link up with that for GPS tracking when out on walks or runs. So, in practice, it actually is more of a deal than the Surge is, in my opinion.

So I'm approaching this from a different angle. Is there a small standalone device that can hold a decent amount of music (8gb+), does basic step tracking, and supports Bluetooth headphones? That's all I want from a jogging wearable since my 7 year old iPod nano died, but the best option I've found on amazon is...a slightly newer (but still old) iPod nano? Sony had some headphones that might of worked, but they were discontinued. I hate dragging my giant phone with me, and I'm paranoid about it breaking, but I guess that's what everyone does these days?

I was under the impression that the Garmin Vivoactive HR has GLONASS and a barometric altimeter. Maybe there's a typo in the piece?Most importantly it has ANT+ support, so you can use a real chest HR sensor and cadence and speed cycling sensors with the Vivoactive HR. Hoping to get mine in a week.

1) Still looking for the average interval between charging to be more than EVERY SINGLE DAY.

2) Let's emphasize performance over features. Features don't matter if they work slowly.

Can't speak for other watches but my Vivoactive HR lasts a week when not using GPS, when using GPS daily for 1-2 hours he watch will last 3 days. This was the single best feature for me about this watch (plus all other benefits highlighted in the article)

Overall a good article, however I do have to quibble with one of the assertions around the Fitbit Blaze. While, when it came out, it only supported basic notifications, a recent software update allows for all many more types of notifications. My wife's Blaze currently displays Google Hangouts, Instagram and other apps (Android-based phone, FWIW) in addition to call and SMS notifications.

I have a Blaze for a few reasons. I was already in the Fitbit ecosystem with previous trackers of theirs, and I wanted to keep my data and be able to compare my progress with other friends I have with Fitbit trackers. I also have tried other trackers and smartwatches but either they were great but didn't integrate with my existing Fitbit data (surprisingly, a big deal), or not that great as fitness trackers so I'd wear it for notifcations and a Fitbit for my fitness tracking, which isn't ideal.

Call, text, and app notifications were the big missing piece for me with my previous Fitbit trackers. With the Charge HR, I could only get calls. The Surge could do only calls and text, but also had music control (which I find useful). I do a lot more aside from calls and texts that I'd like notifications for. I got the Blaze after they had released the update allowing for notifications pushed from any app that provides them. It doesn't have Cortana integration like the MS Band 2 did (which unfortunately would fall apart within months), but I can deal with that. I find it to be a good middle ground or compromise, right under the Surge. It is more casual and stylish than the Surge, and allows for more types of notifications. The only thing you don't get is GPS, but if you have your phone with you, it can link up with that for GPS tracking when out on walks or runs. So, in practice, it actually is more of a deal than the Surge is, in my opinion.

I really wish Microsoft would've fixed the strap issue and made a Band 3. There still isn't a comparable device on the market. I dread the day I'll have to regress to a Fitbit most likely. In the meantime after I got my second Band 2 I reinforced the 4 corners where it wants to crack with sections of 3/4" marine heat-shrink tubing. The extra material in conjunction with the glue inside that provides the watertight seal should keep it together.

It really bothers me that all but the most expensive Fitbits don't have onboard GPS, and even that lacks features the cheaper MS Band 2 has.

I got a Misfit Ray based on your review, and it's exactly what I wanted. So thank you for the review, plus another recommendation from me!

Its feature-set is fairly limited, but it requires no effort besides opening the smart phone app once a day (I believe on iOS you don't even need to open it.) I check in when I'm bored, and adjust the rest of my day based on how much I've walked already. The battery life seems to be about 4 months (not 6 like they claim), but that's still much better than most. That, combined with the waterproofing and the low profile have made it great for my use case.

My only issue is that the leather band strap wore down within 6 months. I switched to the paracord bracelet and I'm thinking of going back to the leather. The paracord looks nice, but it needs to be tightened a couple times a day. With the leather strap, I'd literally forget I was wearing it, and look at my wrist to check.

I don't know why you consider the tethered smartphone to be an "electronic boat anchor". For me, it's the number one feature of my Pebble 2. I get all my notifications on my wrist, and can see at a glance whether it's something I need to respond to immediately, when I get a chance, or not at all. Canned replies handle about 3/4 of my texts, and I can read and respond without taking my eyes off the road (I know some will get up in arms about this, but it's no more distracting than checking my speedometer or changing the radio station).

Plus, I can take advantage of Android's smart lock, while still keeping my phone reasonably secure. The Pebble apps provide all kinds of additional features (Notification Centre is brilliant, and works around so many Android app stupid notifications). The heart rate monitor, sleep tracking, etc are just bonuses for me.

It's part of a strange disease that afflicts half the tech world (the half that isn't Apple and doesn't make any money...) The major symptom of this disease is a bizarre belief that a SINGLE device has to fulfill ALL one's computing needs. There is absolutely no evidence for this belief; there is no historical precedent for it; it doesn't match human behavior in any other field.

Even so sufferers of this delusion continue, year after year, to fantasize that what's really holding their product back is the fact that it can't yet do everything. When they have finally built a microwave oven into a laptop, when your phone can also act as a frisbee, and when your watch has a built in projector, THAT's when the sales will truly take off...

So I'm approaching this from a different angle. Is there a small standalone device that can hold a decent amount of music (8gb+), does basic step tracking, and supports Bluetooth headphones? That's all I want from a jogging wearable since my 7 year old iPod nano died, but the best option I've found on amazon is...a slightly newer (but still old) iPod nano? Sony had some headphones that might of worked, but they were discontinued. I hate dragging my giant phone with me, and I'm paranoid about it breaking, but I guess that's what everyone does these days?

You could buy Samsung Gear IconX. That sounds like the best match to your particular needs. 9though I've no idea how stable they are in-ear for jogging).

How is the Apple iWatch a best in group product? It can't do sleep tracking, it has less than a days battery life. The FitBit Blaze has more essential movement tracking features than the iWatch, yet it is the worst... WTH

Sure the iWatch looks nice, but it's lipstick on a pig.

Apple Watch Series definitely has two days battery life (I would guess same is true of Series 1 but I don't own that.) Series 0 definitely had (with WatchOS 3) one day of battery life.

Apple Watch also has sleep tracking. Not built in (yet...) but there are at least two apps that do it. Sleep++ and AutoSleep.

I continue to have a hard time understanding the hate for the Blaze. Sure it isn't an apple watch but it does grab the more useful functions in a smart watch (notifications, calls, texts, calendar alerts) and manages to do so while keeping a 5-7 day battery life (in my experience). It looks a lot nicer than many other fitness trackers and I have yet to find many people who actually do much distance exercise without a phone for music, so the connected GPS is no big deal.

I love my Samsung Gear 2, but my biggest problem with it is the lack of a light sensor to dynamically change the brightness. It's either far too dim to see even in the shade outside or blindingly bright at night when you roll over.

Other than that, I love the thing. It's made me so much better about tracking my diet and activity. The Samsung Health app can track blood pressure, weight, blood sugar, and a lot more. It's a very neat device. It's also nice to be able to read texts and check phone numbers even if your phone is in a different room.

As for the battery life, I usually just charge mine when I'm in the shower or lounging. The charger is magnetic and very convenient.